Via the Right Scoop. There’s nothing here that you haven’t heard before, but since “true conservatives” are in RINO-stomp mode towards Paul Mirengoff and John McCormack and Jim Geraghty and a bunch of other people who were conservatives in good standing as of, say, four days ago, let’s make sure the stealth liberal known as Charles Krauthammer takes his licks too. The only part of CK’s monologue that I disagree with is the “capricious” part: I’m sure Palin and DeMint made their endorsements with due deliberation, knowing how much it would please their base. (They certainly took long enough to pull the trigger.) And from a philosophical point of view, endorsing O’Donnell is a win/win/win for them. If O’Donnell beats Castle and then shocks Coons in November, they’ll get all the credit; if Castle pulls it out and sends O’Donnell packing, they can at least tell their base that they were on the side of the angels; if, as is most likely, O’Donnell beats Castle and then gets steamrolled by Coons, well, the beauty of “true conservatism” is that the highest priority is defeating RINOs, not Democrats. They won the important fight, and without Castle in the Senate, the GOP brand will remain pure and principled and therefore well positioned for the eventual “true conservative” takeover of Congress. Like the man said, better 30 Marco Rubios than 60 Arlen Specters.

Real Clear Politics is noticing tonight that most other prominent Republicans — Romney, Huckabee, and Pawlenty, just for starters — have yet to endorse either way here. They’ll be hammered for that by the same people who’ll hammer Krauthammer for this and duly threatened with punishment in the primaries over it. Might happen, but when CK describes the Palin/DeMint endorsements as “destructive,” I don’t think he’s referring simply to the GOP’s chances in Delaware. This has been a clarifying moment in terms of showing how conservatives prioritize differently: Some demand a stand on principle even if it means Democratic control, some demand an end to Democratic control even if it means compromising sometimes on principle. Romney et al. will suffer among the former group — and Palin and DeMint will suffer among the latter. This is, very much, a two-way street. Now, here’s Krauthammer. Be gentle.